A week with abundance of great news from the government.
Border opens
From 01 Dec 2021, Australia will allow temporary visa holders including student visa, 485, working holiday visa, and many others to enter Australia without the need of a travel exemption provided the visa holder is fully vaccinated. Currently, tourist visa holders are not on the list and still need to apply for travel exemption. However, we predict that the border will be fully open to all visa subclasses very soon.
Temporary Graduate visa - 485
The government will allow subclass 485 holders who are affected by the travel restriction and have their visa expired on 1 Feb 2020 or later to reapply for a replacement visa with the same duration of their original one.
Students who study Master Coursework will be allowed to apply for a 3-year-subclass-485 visa (increase from 2 years).
Students who apply for subclass 485 - graduate work stream, will have their visa duration increased to 2 years (from 18 months)
Online study while offshore due to Travel Restriction will be able to use for the purpose of subclass 485 application. It is not clear if online study onshore will meet the requirement, but we trust it is likely to be considered as well.
New pathway for skilled visa in Short Term list
There will be 20,000 slots available for skilled visa holders who stayed in Australia during the pandemic and they will be eligible for permanent residency.
At this stage, it is not clear what are the requirements but it will be designed to target the sectors where employers are struggling to find suitable employees such as Hospitality or Health.